Conventional military networks are mobile ad hoc wireless networks. In these networks every node acts as a router and can route traffic to other nodes. Such networks pose stringent requirements for security and reliability. They are highly dynamic in nature because mobile ad hoc networks are formed over wireless links. Links are susceptible to failures because of the mobility of nodes, or loss of connectivity due to the volatility of wireless links. Strict requirements on security and reliability combined with the dynamic nature of the network provide a strong motivation for self-forming, self-configuring, and self-healing capabilities in the network.
Because of the mobility and power constraints, wireless communication nodes have made the task of ad-hoc network management very difficult. Current research is focused on auto-network management and policy based network management. One major disadvantage of both auto-network management and policy based network management is that every node can have only a limited view of the network and has to work within the limitations of its view. For example, FIG. 1 depicts a nodal communication network 100 in which each node 110 can talk to or can have information about its neighboring node(s), depicted by the connection lines between the nodes 110.